Clark Lea offers injury updates on Sedrick Alexander, Christian James

Fall Camp is underway for the Vanderbilt Commodores. Already, the Commodores are dealing with a couple of injured players, including running back Sedrick Alexander and edge rusher Christian James, which head coach Clark Lea recently shared an update on.

First, Lea was positive about Alexander, who he feels is in a good position to get back to playing ahead of the season.

“He’s on his progression to play,” Clark Lea said. “So, we did a little more today. We expect him to do a little more tomorrow and hopefully, by the time we’re rolling to the scrimmage, we’re gonna see him out there. Assuming there are no setbacks.”

As a freshman in 2023, Sedrick Alexander established himself as a good option out of the backfield and is looking to take a step forward in 2024. He rushed for 371 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 18 receptions for 133 yards.

Christian James, on the other hand, is one of the most experienced players at Vanderbilt, having joined the program in the 2019 recruiting class. Because of that experience, Clark Lea is more concerned with getting him healthy for the season than anything else.

“Christian had a little setback yesterday and he’s a guy that we need to get healthy. So, pulling back on him right now. His is a back issue that he just needs time to calm down,” Lea said.

“Christian’s played so much football here, it’s about getting him healthy. He’s going to know what to do. He knows what it takes to play in the SEC. So, we’ll get him calmed down and hopefully back out participating as soon as he can.”

James has played in 38 games over the course of his career with Vanderbilt. In that time, he’s made 78 tackles, 9.5 of which were for a loss, and 2.0 were sacks.

Vanderbilt will start its season on August 31st with an intriguing non-conference game against the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Clark Lea on Vanderbilt quarterback competition

Vanderbilt is in the midst of a quarterback competition between transfer quarterbacks  Diego Pavia from New Mexico State and Nate Johnson from Utah. It’s a competition that Clark Lea thinks is wide open.

“Well, right now, it’s anyone’s ball, you know,” Lea said.

“They’ve got to come out and show the ability to protect the football, make decisions, empower the other 10 guys on the field to make plays. We want to give them time and space to do that.”